This Week in Congress

Statement

Dear Friend,

Welcome to "This Week in Congress." This week, I returned to Washington D.C. as Congress considered several important issues, including the extension of current tax rates. Unless Congress acts in the next few weeks, taxes will increase for all Americans on January 1st, many of whom run small businesses and employ American workers. Raising taxes now will only further damage our economy.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation this week to extend some of the current tax rates, but the U.S. Senate rejected this legislation. I am hopeful there will be an agreement on new legislation before the end of the year that will extend all of the current tax rates. Congress needs to rein in federal spending and prevent tax hikes in order to create an environment that encourages businesses to grow and create jobs.

Also this week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for violations of tax and fundraising rules, the first time in nearly 30 years that the House has considered such punishment for a member of Congress.

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